Box labeling and edging



Patented June 14, 1932 rarer WILLIAM H. MEYER AND WILLIAM A. JEFSEN, OFNEWARK, NEW JERSEY BOX LABELING AND EDGING Application filed June 10,1929. Serial No. 369,661.

This invention relates to the attaching of labels and edging to cigarboxes and similar containers; and has for its principal object theprovision of an improved combined label and edging, whereby the processof applying same to the cigar box is simplified and the cost of laborand materials is greatly reduced. a

The problem of applying labels to cigar boxes involves a number ofconsiderations and difficulties that are peculiar to cigar boxes for thereason that a number of practices have come to be established in thetrade and for the additional reason that cigar boxes almost universallyare so constructed that the end walls project above the front and rearwalls so as to provide for the reception of a lid between such end wallsand resting on the front and rear walls.

The customary practice existing at present in the finishing of cigarboxes generally involves the application of a separate label to eachface or wall of the box. In addition thereto a number of separate edgingstrips are pasted on the various corners and edges of the box body. Thelabels and edging strips in common use at present may be printed incolors and may in addition thereto have embossed designs thereon. It isalso a common practice to make one or both of labels on the end walls ina large number of colors and generally more fanciful designs which arefrequently embossed, whereas the labels on the front and rear walls arenot usually quite as elaborate. The application of the edging stripsinvolves a number of operations. Gne long edging strip is folded aroundthe lower edges of the box and pasted to the outer surface of the bottomand to the lower side of all Walls of the box; another long strip isfolded around three upper edges of the box body and pasted to the outerand inner surfaces of both ends and of the front thereof. Still anotherstrip is pasted over the cloth hinge when in position on the box body.In

addition to the above, four edging strips are pasted 'on the verticalcorners of the box utilized in the practice of the old method of Ifinishing cigar boxes and to provide a wrapping unit which comprises thenecessary labels and edging elements for the lateral faces of the box.The wrapping unit is so designed that it may be applied with the aid ofsuitable machinery with a minimum number of operations and in a muchmore accurate neater and more expeditious manner than in the practiceknown hitherto.

The Wrapper designed in accordance with the present invention is soconstructed that by the aid of one set of dies a web of paper may beproperly cut and properly notched so as to provide a wrapper for a cigarbox of any given dimensions. To accomplish the above objects the presentinvention contemplates the use of a unitary wrapper which embodies alabeling and'edg ing unit for each of the lateral facesfthese labelingand edging units constituting extensions of a main body portion which isadaptedto be attached to the bottom of the box. The extensions orlabeling and edging units are so designed that two of them adapted tocover two opposing lateral faces are substantially rectangular in shape,whereas the other pair of labeling and edging units are properly notchedso that they may cover those portions of the end walls which. projectover the front and rear walls.

The following is a description of one embodiment of the presentinvention. It will be understood that modifications and changes may bemade Without departing from the spirit of the invention and withoutexceeding the scope of the claims. K

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the wrapper unit.

Figs. 2 to 6, inclusive, show the various stages of the box wrappingoperation.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view on line 77 of Figure 5.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, 10 illustrates a wrapper unit ofsuitable material such as paper. The wrapper 10 is a flat sheet of paperwh ch is cut and notched as inclicated and as described in greaterdetail hereinafter and is provided with printed matter and is preferablyso designed as to provide label portions and edging portions, thesebeing so printed that when the wrapper is applied to the box it has thesame appearance as a box having the labels and edging strips appliedthereto by the use of separate labels and edging strips in a mannercommon in the art.

The rectangular portion 11 of the wrapper unit 10 which is outlined bythe lines 12, 13, 1 and 15, is applied to the bottom of the box. Theportions 16 and 17 constitute labeling and edging units for the endwalls of the box. The portion 18 is a labeling and edging unit for thefront wall of the box and the portion 19 is a label and edging unit forthe rear wall of the box.

In order to simplify the construction of the wrapper unit and in orderto simplify the manner of its application to the cigar box and in orderto reduce the number of cutting dies, the wrapper unit shown in Fig. 1is so designed that the units 16 and 17 provide labels for the end wallsof the box and also edging strips for all of the four corners ad- ]acentto each of the end walls, whereas the portions 18 and 19 are shorter inlength than the front and rear walls of the box, respectively, and donot provide any edging strips for the adjacent vertical corners.

The unit 18, however, provides a label por tion for the front wall ofthe box and an edging strip for the upper and lower corner of the wallwhereas the labeling and edging unit 19 provides a label portion for therear wall of the box and an edging strip only for the lower horizontalcorner. The unit 19 is substantially shorter than the height of the rearwall of the box so that when the wrapping unit is applied to the box alongitudinal strip immediately adjacent the upper edge of the rear wallof the box is left bare so that the cloth hinge, which is commonlyutilized for holding the lid of the box, may be applied directly to thebare wood.

Referring now to the details of construction of the wrapper unit, itwill be seen that the units 16 and 17 are integral with the main bodyportion 11, extending in. opposite directions therefrom and aresubstantially rectangular in shape. Each of these units comprises alabel portion 20. a lower or hori zontal edging strip 21, an upperhorizontal edging strip 22 and vertical edging strips The label portion20 is outlined by lines 2-1,

25, 26 and 27. The lines 25 and 27 also serve as the inner border linesof the vertical et ging strips whereas the lines 24 and 26 serve as theinner border lines of the horizontal edging strips. The lines 28, whichmay or may not actually appear on the wrapper depending upon the type ofedging strip the wrapper is designed to simulate, indicate theoverlapping portions of the units 16 and 17 and are designed to coincidewith the ver- I tical corners of the box. The overlapping portions 29which lie between the lines 28 and the vertical edges of the units 16and 17 provide sufiicient material for the edging strip and in additionthereto provide a narrow strip of material 30 which are intended to becovered by the corresponding unit 18 or 19, as the case may be, andthereby prevent any possibility of the exposure of the bare woodunderneath the wrapper. The portions 28 are cut away slightly as shownby lines 31 so as to facilitate the application of the wrapper to thebox and prevent the possibility of this lower edge interfering with theapplication of the unit 18 or 19 to the box.

In order to facilitate the application of the units 16 and 17 to the endwalls of the box and in order to provide means for completely coveringevery portion of the box, cut out portions are provided so that each ofthe vertical edging strips 23 carries a tab 32, which is verticallyspaced from the remainder of the unit. This tab 32 is designed to befolded over the top and onto the inner face of the front and rear wallof the box. The cut out portion is so designed that each of the units 16and 17 are provided with turn in sections 33 adapted to cover the upperedge of the end wall, a substantial portion of the inner face of the endwall and at the same time smoothly and snugly covering that portion ofthe inner face of the end wall which projects above the front or rearwall. The turn in portion is so designed that this may be accomplishedby one operation. The manner in which this is accomplished will bereadily appreciated from an inspection of Figures 2 to 6 inclusive,which show the manner of application of the wrapper unit in the variousstages. Before proceeding with a description of the manner ofapplication of the wrapper unit, the specific design of the cut outportion should be noted.

The lines 34, 35, 37 and 38, disposed in the manner shown, outline thecut out portion, and serve to provide the various small portions thatare necessary for the purpose of snugly covering the corner of the endwall that projects above the front or rear wall.

Turning to Figure 2 of the drawings, it shows the wrapper unit appliedto the bottom of the box with the main body portion 11 pasted onto thebottom of the box, the lines 12, 13, 14 and 15 coinciding with the likefour edges of the bottom face of the box. The labeling and edging units16 and 17 are folded upwardly and pasted against the outer faces of theend walls of the box. This figure shows the turn in portion 33 of theunit 16 standing upright before it is turned over the upper edge of theend wall. It also shows the corresponding turn in portion 33 of the unit17 turned over the upper edge of the end wall and pasted against theinner face of the end wall. The unit 16 is also shown with its overlapportion 29 still in the same plane with the unit 16 whereas the endportions 29 of the unit 17' are pasted against the outer faces of thefront and rear walls. The overlap portion 29, which is applied to thefront wall is shown turned in so that the tab 32 is applied to the upperedge of the front wall and turned in against the inner face of the frontwall. It will be seen that the line 35 coincides with the front or rearedge of the upper face of the end wall whereas line 34 lies snuglyagainst the inner face of the end wall. This relationship will'beobserved more clearly in Figs. 3 and 4, which show the unit 16 in thevarious stages of its application, the dotted lines showing the unit inthe same condition in whichit appears in Fig. 2.

It will further be seen that the line 36 falls partly along the front orrear edge of the upper face of the end wall and partly along its innervertical edge and reaches down to the upper face of the front or rearwall. Line 37 falls snugly against the upper face of the front or rearwall and line 38 falls snugly against the inner face of the front orrear wall.

It will be seen from the above, therefore, that when the end units 16and 17 are pasted onto the box in the manner shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 4,the corners of the box which include the portions of the end wall thatproject above the front and rear wall are covered smoothly and neatlyand without any creases. The next operation is shown in Fig. 5 where theunit 18 is pasted against the front wall and then turned in to cover theupper face of the front wall and partly the upper portion of the innerface of the front wall. The unit 19 is then turned up and pasted againstthe rear wall, this unit being so designed that it does not quite reachto the top of the rear wall and therefore leaves a longitudinal stripbare for engagement by the cloth hinge which holds the lid on the box.

The steps and stages in the application of the wrapper unit to the boxillustrated in the drawings and described herein, are only for thepurpose of clarifying the function of the construction of the wrapperunit, it being understood that in actual operation some of the stepswhich appear to be shown as performed independently and successively maybe performedsimultaneously by the aid of suitable machinery or in anyother manner.

In View of the fact that the units 18 and 19, which cover the front andrear walls re- 'spectively, do not extend over the entire length ofthebox, their lower edging strips 10' are cut diagonally at theirextreme ends as shown by lines 41. 1 The embodiment of the inventionshown and described herein comprises a wrapper unit which may be appliedto a cigar box by a minimum number of very simple operations, eachoperation consisting merely in pasting someportion of the wrapperagainst a flat surface and none of the operations involving any sort ofcreasing. The wrapper unit comprises a main body portion and a pair ofopposed labeling and edging units which are so designed that theyprovide labels and edgings for their corresponding walls and at the sametime completely cover the upper corners of the box. As a result of thisconstruction of this pair of units the other pair of units aresubstantially rectangular in shape and serve merely to cover the otherpair of walls insofar as they were not covered by the first mentionedpair of units, the unit intended for the rear wall of the box being madeof such width that it leaves a longitudinal strip of the wall exposedfor attachment of the hinge for the cover.

What is claimed is:

1. A wrapper for cigar boxes having their end walls projecting upwardlyabove the upper level of the front and rear walls, said wrappercomprising a pair of combined label and edging units for the end wallsof the box, said units having overlapping portions forming edging stripsfor the adjacent corners of the front and rear walls, said units alsobeing provided with cut out portions formed to cover the projectingparts of the end walls with a single layer of wrapper material, saidwrapper also comprising a substantially rectangular unit providing alabel and horizontal edging strips for the front wall, and asubstantially rectangular unit forming an edging strip for the lowercorner of the rear wall and a label for the lower portion of the saidrear wall, and having a longitudinal strip of the said wall exposed forattachment of the hinge for the cover.

2. A wrapper for a cigar box of the type having end walls projectingover the front and rear walls, said wrapper comprising a rectangularmain body portion, a pair of wrapper units for the end walls integralwith said main body portion and extending from the ends thereof, eachunit being substantially rectangular and having overall dimensionsgreater than the dimensions of the end wall, each unit also having acut-out portion adjacent each upper corner whereby defined integralareas are provided for application to the outer face of the end wall andfor covering with a single layer of Wrapper material the front, rear andupper edges of the end wall, and a portion of the inner face of the endWall including the portions lying immediately over the front and rearWalls, and another pair of rectangular units for the front and rearWalls of the box integral With said main body portion and extending fromits opposed edges, said last named ends having a; length-Wise dimensionsmaller than the corresponding dimension of the front or rear Wall.

In testimony whereof We have aifixed our signatures to thisspecification.

WILLIAM H. MEYER.

VILLIAM A. J EFSEN.

